We were at Top Chef Canada's finale viewing party!

Although I’m not really a fan of any kind of reality TV, I adore Top Chef Canada. Next to Lidia’s Italy and No Reservations, it’s the only food TV I watch…actually, I’m totally devoted to it.

The challenges are great: they’re really about food and technique, not gimmicky or embarrassing for the chefs. The program shows off the amazing skill and creativity of Canadian chefs and I’m always inspired by it. And although there’s a little bit of trash-talk, for the most part you can tell they genuinely love and respect each other. So imagine how excited I was to score an invite to the finale viewing party.

Chef Carl Heinrich, the winner of season two, co-hosted the do (with Tourism Calgary) at his restaurant Richmond Station. There was lots of great food, wine and beer, and tons of people on hand to watch the final challenges, including current and past contestants. Our Food Editor, Amy Rosen, had picked chef Matt Stowe as the winner from day one, and he pulled through.

In the end, although I crushed on Danny English and Danny Smiles, and hoped Nicole and I could have dinner together one day, I didn’t really care who won. I’m still thinking about the “Luxury” challenge and what I might have done if I had been a contestant (ha!). And I’m almost counting the months until the next season starts.